Glossary of Terms

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S

Scalability - Is the ability to grow incrementally. If an online commerce system is scaleable, it can grow in capacity, as the demand requires.

Search Engine - Software used to find stuff, particularly on the World Wide Web. Visit - www.yahoo.com, www.hotbot.com , www.infoseek.com, www.google.com

Secure Electronic Transactions (SET) - This is a newly developed standard for making secure credit card transactions on the Internet. Security is achieved by allowing merchants to verify a buyer's identity through a digital signature. Furthermore, customers will be able to avoid giving out their credit card numbers to merchants by submitting their information directly to the credit card issuer for verification and billing. Security - In the computer world, a means to allow access to only those who should have it. security includes the use of passwords to protect your account. Also See Hacking, Encryption

Security Certificate - A piece of information (often stored as a text file) that is used by the SSL protocol to establish a secure connection. Security Certificates contain information about who it belongs to, who it was issued by, a unique serial number or other unique identification, valid dates, and an encrypted "fingerprint" that can be used to verify the contents of the certificate. In order for an SSL connection to be created both sides must have a valid Security Certificate. Also See: Certificate Authority, SSL, Encryption, and Hacker

Serial Line - A connection between computers using the serial protocol.

S-Mime Encryption - Protects the privacy of email. If the sender and receiver both have email clients that support the S-Mime protocol, they can communicate with email that is secure.

Serial Protocol - The simplest way to send data over a wire - one bit at a time.

Serial Port - The place on your computer where you can plug in a serial line. Server - A computer that provides a service to other computers on a network or across the Internet.

Server-Side - Occurring on the server side of a client-server system. For example, on the World Wide Web, ASPand CGI scripts are server-side applications because they run on the Web server. In contrast, JavaScript scripts are client-side because they are executed by your browser (the client). Java applets can be either server-side or client-side depending on which computer (the server or the client) executes them.

Service Provider - An organization that provides access to the Internet. Your service provider might be a commercial on-line service such as America Online or CompuServe, your local cable company or sometimes your school or workplace.

SET - See: Secure Electronic Transactions (SET)

Shareware - Computer programs that are easily available for you to try with the understanding that if you decide to keep the program you will pay for it and send the requested amount to the shareware provider specified in the program.

Shell Account - Rather than transferring all your HTML files to your PC when editing your web site, you can use a shell account to edit, rename, and delete your HTML files on the server itself. Shell accounts are usually utilized by knowledgeable computer individuals so if you are a novice you probably do not need this feature.

Shopping Cart - A piece of software that operates on an online storefront. The "shopping cart" keeps track of all the items that a buyer wants to purchase, allowing the shopper to pay for the whole order at once.

SLIP - (Serial Line Internet Protocol) A software scheme for connecting a computer to the Internet over a serial line. For example, if you can run SLIP on your personal computer and you call up an Internet provider that does SLIP, your computer is on the Internet, it's not just a terminal - it's right on it. You can telnet and FTP to other computers; when you get files, they arrive back on your PC, not on the Internet provider's computer.

Smart Card - Smart cards look like credit cards but act very differently. With the use of an internal computer memory chip, a smart card can be used to store a large amount of information with a maximum amount of security, including everything from medical records to digital cash. To access or alter the information on a smart card, you have to use a smart card reader. Also See: Digital Cash, Digital Signature, And Digital Wallet

SMDS - (Switched Multi megabit Data Service) A new standard for very high-speed data transfer. SMTP - (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) The method by which the Internet delivers mail from one computer to another.

SNMP - (Simple Network Management Protocol) A set of standards for communication with devices connected to a TCP/IP network. Examples of these devices include routers, hubs, and switches. A device is said to be "SNMP compatible" if it can be monitored and/or controlled using SNMP messages. SNMP messages are known as "PDU's" - Protocol Data Units. Devices that are SNMP compatible contain SNMP "agent" software to receive, send, and act upon SNMP messages. Software for managing devices via SNMP are available for every kind of commonly used computer and are often bundled along with the device they are designed to manage. Some SNMP software is designed to handle a wide variety of devices. See Also: Network, Router

Socket - A logical "port" a program uses to connect to another program running on another computer on the Internet. You might have an FTP program using sockets for its FTP session, for example, while Eudora connects by way of another socket to get your mail.

Software - Computer programs that make computers usable as something other than a paperweight. Also See: Hardware

Spam (or Spamming) - An inappropriate attempt to use a mailing list, or USENET or other networked communications facility as if it was a broadcast medium (which it is not) by sending the same message to a large number of people who didn't ask for it. The term probably comes from a famous Monty Python comedy sketch in which the word Spam repeated over and over. The term may also have come from someone's low opinion of the food product with the same name, which is generally perceived as a generic content-free waste of resources.

SQL (Structured Query Language) - A specialized programming language for sending queries to databases. Most industrial-strength and many smaller database applications can be addressed using SQL. Each specific application will have its own version of SQL implementing features unique to that application, but all SQL-capable databases support a common subset of SQL.

SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) - A protocol designed by Netscape Communications to enable encrypted, authenticated communications across the Internet. SSL used mostly (but not exclusively) in communications between web browsers and web servers. URL's that begin with "https" indicate that an SSL connection will be used. SSL provides 3 important things: Privacy, Authentication, and Message Integrity. In an SSL connection each side of the connection must have a Security Certificate, which each side's software sends to the other. Each side then encrypts what it sends using information from both its own and the other side's Certificate, ensuring that only the intended recipient can de-crypt it, and that the other side can be sure the data came from the place it claims to have come from, and that the message has not been tampered with. See Also: Browser, Server, Security Certificate, and URL

Statistics Package - A full-blown statistics package takes your traffic log information and displays it an easy-to-ready format. This makes the information much easier to digest. Popular statistical packages include Web Trends and Live Stats, among many others. Also See: Log Files, Traffic Logs, and Web Trends

SurfWatch - A program that censors your Internet account. Used by parents who want to control what their kids see on the Net. Also See: Net Nanny

Swipe Discount Rate - The discount rate charged by a merchant account provider for transactions where a credit card is available for inspection by the merchant. Swipe rates are generally lower than MOTO rates since the merchant can match signatures and other checks on fraud or misuse.

Sysop (System Operator) - Anyone responsible for the physical operations of a computer system or network resource. A System Administrator decides how often backups and maintenance should be performed and the System Operator performs those tasks.